Refrigerator lock with inside release



Jan. 3, 1961 E. R. WEAVER 2,966,864

REFRIGERATOR LOCK WITH INSIDE RELEASE Filed Dec. 12, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 IN VENTOR I Elma/ R Weaver ATTORNEYJ Jan. 3, 1961 E. R. WEAVER REFRIGERATOR LOCK WITH INSIDE RELEASE Filed Dec. 12, 1957 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ATTORNEY? United States Patent C REFRIGERATOR LOCK WITH INSIDE RELEASE Elmer R. Weaver, Chevy Chase, Md., assignor to the United States of America as represented by the Secretary of Commerce Filed Dec. 12, 1957, Ser. No. 702,491

3 Claims. (Cl. 109-635) The present invention relates to closure fasteners and particularly contemplates an improved latch construction which precludes the accidental entrapment of persons especially children within an enclosure such as refrigerators. In accordance with the requirements of proposed standards for refrigerator locking devices as defined by Public Law 930 considerable research has been conducted at the National Bureau of Standards to ascertain the behavior of persons, particularly small children, when accidently caught in a closed receptacle such as a refrigerator. In devising a latch which will conform to the requirement of the proposed standard above mentioned, it is important to consider practicableness and economy of manufacture as well as the eflicacy of the latch in respect to preventing entrapment.

The present invention, as will become apparent as the description proceeds, is relatively simple in operation and construction, and moreover, is designed so as to conform with conventional latch mounting practice. Accordingly, it can readily be adapted for application to refrigerators and other cabinet structures.

In accordance with the principles of the present invention the keeper of the latch assembly may be disabled by a trigger mechanism mounted within the refrigerator or enclosure so that the latch mechanism is rendered ineffectual so long as any slight force or pressure is applied to the trigger mechanism. The keeper mechanism, more-. over, is automatically enabled by movement of the closure member relative to the cabinet in the absence of any force applied in the trigger mechanism.

It is accordingly an immediate object of the present in-v vention to provide an improved safety latch particularly adaptable for use on household refrigerators, which can be rendered ineffectual by means mounted within the refrigerator compartment.

Another object of this invention is to provide a safety. latch for a refrigerator or other closure which normally operates as a conventional snap-action latch but which can readily be released from within the enclosure.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a safety latch which is relatively simple in construc- 'tion and which can readily be adapted for installation in commercial household refrigerators.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a latch construction in which the keeper mechanism is disabled by trigger means within the compartment, the keeper being so constructed as to be automatically rendered operative by the act of closing the door.

Other uses and advantages of the invention will become apparent upon reference to the specification and drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a sectional view showing the latch mechanism of the present invention applied to a closure and cabinet;

Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the position of the latch mechanism after release, the closure being partly open;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing the position ice assumed by the keeper mechanism when the latch mechanism has been disabled, and

Fig. 4 is an isometric view partly in section showing the position of the trigger mechanism for disabling the latch.

The construction and operation of the latch mechanism comprising the present invention will be clear from the drawings. Fig. 1 shows a section of the door 1 forming the closure member of a conventional refrigerator or cabinet 1a. As is conventional in such construction a portion of the door is provided with a housing or channel 2 defining a cavity or chamber 3 for housing a latch structure. The jamb 4 of the refrigerator cabinet is similarly provided with a channel 5 defining a cavity 6 which contains a keeper mechanism. The latch mechanism mounted within the cavity 3 in the door is generally of conventional construction and comprises a pivotally mounted lever or handle 7 which extends outwardly of the door through a suitable orifice 7a.

The handle 7 is pivotally mounted on a pin 8 suitably mounted within the cavity 3 of the refrigerator door. When operated, the handle 7 will swing counterclockwise as viewed in Fig. 1 about the pivot pin 8 thereby tensioning a spring 9 which is anchored to the handle and to the refrigerator door respectively. An operating pin 10 is fixed to a portion of the handle 7 and is adapted to engage against the marginal portion of a latch bolt 11 mounted within the recess 3 as clearly indicated in the drawing. Latch bolt 11 is also pivotally mounted on the fulcrum pin 8 and includes a plurality of extensions 12, 13, and 14. The extension 12 of the latch bolt is pivotally secured to one end of an overthrow compression spring 16 by means of a pin 15. The other end of over throw spring 16 is anchored to the door by means of a pin 17. The extension 14 of latch bolt 11 is provided with a roller 18 which is adapted to engage against a keeper as will be described.

It will be apparent from the above description that overthrow spring 16 is adapted to retain latch bolt 11 in either a latched position as shown in Fig. 1 or a cocked position as in Fig. 2. Operation of the latch handle 7 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in Fig. 1 causes rotation of latch bolt 11 to a released position as shown in Fig. 2. The latch mechanism will consequently be retained in the cocked position of Fig. 2 due to the fact that overthrow spring 16 will have been displaced past its dead center position as defined by a line through pins 8 and 17, as shown in Fig. 2.

The keeper mechanism comprises a keeper 20 which is 'pivotally mounted by means of a pintle 21 to a fulcrumed member contained within the referred-to recess 6 in the jamb portion of the refrigerator cabinet The linkage within the recess comprises a bell crank 22 which is pivoted to the jamb frame by means of a pin 23. Keeper 20 is biased to an inactive position (see Fig. 3) with respect to latch bolt 11 by gravity or by a small spring (not shown) if desired. The keeper is sensitively sup ported in an active or latch-engageable position as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 by means of a sear 24 which is pivotal- 1y mounted on one end of bell crank 22 by a pin 25. The scar 24 is normally biased in a counterclockwise direction by a leaf spring 26 anchored to sear 24 and to bell crank 22, respectively. Sear 24 is also provided with a shouldered portion 25a which is adapted to register with a lug 20a provided on keeper 20. The keeper 20 is further provided with an abutment 20b adapted to engage the roller 18 of the latch member 11 when the door is in closed position. A depending portion 20c of the keeper 20 is adapted to cooperate with a restoring member 27 pivotally mounted in the chamber 3 by means of a pin 28. A stop pin 29 is fixed within the chamber 3 to limit the gn otiiin of the restoring member 27 as clearly indicated in The means for inactivating the latch mechanism from the interior of the refrigerator comprises a trigger mechanism such as is illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings. The trigger mechanism may be-initiated by means of an operator 36 which may be in the form of a plate, knob, lever, or any means capable of sensing a force or pressure. In the particular embodiment illustrated in Fig. 4, the operator 30 may be in the form of a transparent plate positioned on the closure 1 adjacent a light port provided in the closure. The light port may comprise a rod of Lucite or other light-conducting material 30a. The rod 30a as shown in Fig. 4 extends through the closure 1 and into proximity with the operator 30. The light source offers an obvious attraction to a person within a darkened compartment. There would be a natural tendency for a person to grope towards the light source with the, attendant actuation of the operator 30. The operator 30 is suitably connected to a linkage comprising links 31, 32, and 33. mounted as a conventional four-bar linkage by means of the pins 34 and 35 secured to a portion of the channel 2 within the refrigerator door. A portion of the link 31 is extended as indicated in Fig. 4 and terminates in afinger 31a which is positioned in proximity with sear 24 (Fig. 1) as shown in section in Figs. 1 and 2. It will be apparent from Figs. 1, 2, and 4 that the application of any force to the operator plate 30 will project finger 31a of the trigger mechanism into operative contact with sear 24. The resulting displacement of the sear about pivot 25 removes the support for keeper 20 and the latter is biased to its inactive position as shown in Fig. 3. Sear 24 is provided with a sloped shoulder 25a which engages a likesloped surface onlug 20a of the keeper. It will be apparent that the engagement between the inclined surfaces on the lug and sear enhances the sensitivity of the triggering mechanism since only a slightly pressure on sear 24 will disengage the sear from the keeper.

it will be noted from Fig. 1 that keeper 20 is movable substantially at right angles to the direction of the relatively strong force that holds the door closed.

In normal use of the refrigerator, pulling on the latch handle 7 will rotate the handle counterclockwise about the pivot 8 (Figs. 1 and 2), tensioning spring 9 and compressing the toggle spring 16. Specifically when the bandle 7 is rotated in a counterclockwise direction the pin 10 will engage against and rotate the latch member 11 in a like counterclockwise direction thereby compressing the toggle sprin 16. The latch roller 18 will accordingly be raised upwardly and to' the right as shown in Fig. 2 allowing lat a roller 13 to disengage from the ledge 20b of the keeper 2d and permitting the door to be opened. The portion 12 of latch bolt 11 rotates the end of toggle spring in which is attached to pin 15 to a position past the dead center position represented by a line through pins 8 and 17. Toggle spring 16 accordingly will retain the latch in the cocked position shown in Fig. 2.

When the closure 1 is thereafter swung shut with or without pressure against handle 7, the extension portion 13 of the latch 11 will obviously be in a position to strike against the abutment b of the keeper 20. The force exerted by the extension 13 against the abutment will effectively cause rotation of the latch plate 11 in a clockwise direction forcing toggle spring 16 past its dead center position to the position of Fig. 1. Such action causes roller 18 to cam against the abutment 20b and the latch is accordingly snapped into door-closed position.

Keeper 2b is'normally sensitively supported in an active or cooked position aligned with latch plate 11 by the sear 24 and leaf spring 26.

It will be apparent from the above description-therefore that in normal operation, the latching mechanism operates in a conventional fashion whereby the latch plate 11 is cocked by the operation of the operatinghandle 7 when the door is opened and engages and cams against the keeper it when the door is closed.

The referred-to fulcrumed member 22 and associated compression spring 34 provides an equalizing mechanism which cooperates with the latch bolt and the gasket material G to provide a tight seal between the door and cabinet and also compensates for different degrees of stiffness in the gasket material employed. As is apparent from Fig. l, the latch roller 18 exerts a thrust directed substantially lengthwise of keeper 20. Such thrust results in pivoting of hell crank 22 about its fulcrum 23 until a balance is achieved between compression spring 34 and the force of resiliency of the gasket material G. In this manner the keeper mechanism automatically accommodates itself for different types of gasket material.

Emergency release of the latch mechanism.-Whatever force is exerted against the operator 30 of the trigger mechanism (Fig. 2) will result in pivoting of the lever 31 about its pivot 34 with the consequent displacement of the disabling member or sear 24 to the right as indicated in Fig. 1. It will be clear that when the disabling member 24 is rotated to the right it removes the support from keeper 20 which will therefore assume a downward position as viewed in Fig. 1. In such position of the keeper 20 there is no effective engagement, between the latch roller 18 and the abutment 20b. 7

The latch mechanism is readily released from the inside of the compartment by the application of a slight pressure to plate 30 of the trigger mechanism. The linkage 31, 32 etc. provides a multiplying effect and this, together with the sensitive seating of the keeper on sear 24 provided by the sloped surface 25a results in release of the keeper from its active latch-engaging position. Keeper 2i then assumes the inactive position of Fig. 3 and the closure is freed.

It will be understood that the trigger mechanism for initiating release of the latch mechanism is not limited to the particular embodiment illustrated in Fig. 4. V The necessary triggering action can readily be obtained by movement of a ball-supported bottom plate. provided on the bottom of the cabinet or the turning of a knob. Moreover, the triggering mechanism, can be made as sensitive as desired up to the point of unstability.

It will also be noted that the trigger mechanism according to the embodiment shown in Fig. 4 is ineffectual when the door is open. Actuation of the operator 3b in such position of the door has no effect on the sear.

It will be apparent that the embodiments shown are only exemplary and that various modifications can be made in construction and arrangement within the scope of invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

l. in combination, a closure, a cabinet, agasket of resilient material positioned on said cabinet for sealing the space between the closure. and cabinet, a rotatable member located on said cabinet, a keeper having an in active and a cocked position pivotably mounted on said rotatable member, latching means including a positionable latch bolt movably mounted on said closure, said latch bolt positioned on said closure to engage said keeper when said closure is in contact with said gasket, means for biasing said latch bolt when in contact with said keeper to exert a thrust in a first direction along said keeper, means for biasing said rotatable member in a direction such that a thrust is exerted along said keeper in a direction opposite to said first direction, a movable sear having a first and second position, said sear in the first position being located to maintain said keeper in the cocked position, and releasing means for moving said sear to said second position, said releasing means being located on said closure and within said cabinet when the closure is in contact with said gasket.

2. The combination recited in claim 1 wherein said sear is pivotably mounted on said movable member.

3. The combination recited in claim 2 wherein said releasing means comprises a plate positioned on said closure, a first link mounted on said plate in a fixed posimasque tion, a second and third link, each pivotably mounted on a respective side of said first link, said second link including a finger positioned to engage said sear, at least a fourth link pivotably mounted on and between said second and third link, and means for conducting light 6 through said closure in the vicinity of said plate.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 6 Schonitzer Sept. 28, 1937 Haseltine Feb. 1, 1944 Endter Sept. 25, 1951 Coplen Jan. 31, 1956 Bordner Sept. 11, 1956 Burke Oct. 16, 1956 Williamson Aug. 26, 1958 

